Angel in COG Armor
by Demon Spartan
Summary: Sometimes, you must sacrifice yourself for the sake of the innocent. One fearless Gear will do what it takes for the innocent...even at the cost of everything.


**A/N: For those who are selfless in the face of fear**

**I don't own Gears of War**

**Angel in COG Armor**

The planet Sera, a once beautiful and vibrant planet. Now layed on the edge of ruin. For decades the humans had fought for the fuel source Imulsion, now their war was against genocidal monsters from the Hollow of the planet. The Locust attacked with such brutality that no one was spared. In 14 short years, the human race was reduced to only a few million. It was with the fighting efforts of Gears such as Marcus Fenix and Delta squad that dealt devistating blows to the Locust ranks. The light mass bomb had reduced their numbers...but the Locust refuse to die.

Other than the Gears who are being lead by the COG, or Coalition of Organized Governments, there are other people left in the world. They are labled the Stranded, given a name because they refused the aid of the Gears and chose to fight on their own terms. Forming their own communities and choosing to survive their own way against the Locust horde. But for humanity to truely survive the monsters under their feet, they would have to work together...but thats a tale for another time.

Our story starts with two women running down a destroyed street. One was a woman who was 22 with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, the other was a little girl no older than 12 with matching hair and eyes. From the looks of their dirty and torn clothes and that they were far from Jacinto they were Stranded.

Their names were Jessie and Lisa, they were sisters, and they were on the run. But there was something significant slowing them down, Jessie was five months pregnant. "Jess in here!" Lisa said grabbing her older sister's hand and pulling her into a collapsed diner. The two hid behind a damaged counter to catch their breath. They went quiet as the sound of loud boots caught their attention.

Lisa slowly peeked around the counter and caught sight of what they were running from. A Locust drone stood in the doorway, armor the color of rust and blood, with a hammerburst rifle in its hands. The creature scanned the room with its dark amber colored eyes looking for its victims. With heavy foot falls, the drone walked into the diner.

The little girl held her breath as she heard glass and concrete crunch under the drone's feet. It went through the room, flipping over tables checking for the humans that escaped. The two women remained silent, fear etched across their features while they waited for it to leave. After what felt like an eternity, the drone turned towatd the door and started to leave.

Jessie and Lisa let out a breath of relief...when suddently a piece of concrete fell from the countertop and shattered on the floor. The drone paused.

Lisa went to look around the counter again when two heavy boots hit the counter. The drone stood over them with a sneer etched across its reptilian face, it aimed its hammerburst at them. The two girls held onto each other, "Close your eyes Lisa." said Jessie. The drone's finger tightened on the trigger.

A loud revving came out of nowhere and the Locust's chest exploded in a fountain of blood and bone. Through its chest was the barrel and chainsaw bayonet of a lancer rifle. The girls looked up in time to see their hunter cut in half, the two chunks falling on either side of them. Standing on the other side of the counter was a lone Gear in standard COG armor without a helmet. He looked only a few years older than Jessie with steel colored eyes and a short black mohawk and goatee. "You ladies need a hand?" he asked calmly shaking the blood off of his lancer.

The girls stood up, "Thanks, never expected a Gear to help Stranded." The Gear shrugged, "Just doing my job." he turned around and stood in the doorway looking in both directions, "Its all clear, if we you wanna get to safety you should follow me." Jessie rounded the counter with her hands on her hips, "Why should we trust you?" she asked skeptically. Again the Gear shrugged, "Because this place is crawling with Locust, and if you wanna get yourself, your little friend and your unborn child out of here you should stick with me."

Jessie didn't have a rebuttal, she followed the Gear out into the street with Lisa in tow. Like other Stranded she didn't fully trust the COG, but even she knew that they needed help. "How do you know this place is full of Locust?" she asked. The Gear reached into the pouch on his leg and pulled out four COG tags, "Cuz I lost my whole squad to the bastards." he said putting them back.

They walked down the street in silence for a while before Jessie spoke up again, "Where are we going?" The Gear looked along the windows of the buildings on the street keeping his rifle ready, "Theres a King Raven enroute to a building a click West from here. My squad leader made the call for it before he was killed."

"Aren't you scared?" asked Lisa. The Gear shook his head, "Theres a lot of things to be afraid of kid. Being alone isn't one of them." They kept walking for a few minutes before the Gear stopped and sat down to rest. "Why'd we stop?" asked Jessie as she and Lisa sat down next to each other on a fallen column. The Gear pointed at her belly, "I think it would be good since your expecting. That drone had you running pretty good." He pulled his canteen from his back and shook it, from the sound that was inside there wasn't much.

He handed it to the girls, "Drink up, you'll need it." he reached into another pouch and pulled out a couple of calorie bars and handed them one each as well. "Thank you." said Lisa digging into her bar hungerly. Jessie drank half of what was left of the water before handing it to her sister. "Why are you helping us?" The Gear gave her a look, "Not all us Gears are the assholes the other Stranded spout off about." Jessie would have asked more, but the ground under them started to shake.

"Get down...NOW!" The Gear shouted getting behind cover. Lisa and Jessie dropped down when an emergence hole ripped open 20 feet away from them. The Gear peeked around and saw three drones pull themselves out of the ground. He set his lancer aside and pulled a bolo frag grenade from his belt. He watched the drones look around the area before he started to swing the explosive around its chain. When the Locust weren't paying attention he lobbed the grenade across the road.

The device bounced across the road and fell into the hole, by the time the drones took notice the grenade went off and sealed the hole. The Gear lept up and opened fire ont he disorientated Locust soldiers, one fell right off while another fell to the ground on all fours wounded. The last Locust hide behind cover and avoided the gunfire while returning its own. The Gear fired around the cover before ducking down again. He reloaded but the lancer jammed, "Shit." he cursed. Not bothering with the rifle, he pulled out his snub pistol and fired.

The drone stood up and a bullet hit the side of its jaw making it stumble. The Gear stood up and emptied the rest of the clip making the drone stagger back a few steps. The Gear reloaded and emptied the other clip before the drone fell onto the ground face first. Seeing the other drone attempting to crawl away, the Gear ran up and stomped down on the back of its neck with a sickening crack.

"Its all clear." he said putting his pistol away and fixing his lancer. The girls stood up and looked at the damage, "You use to this?" asked Jessie. "For the past four years." he said heading toward their destination, "We better keep going, there will be more coming."

The sun had started to decend over the mountains in the distance when they had diverted their path and headed into a large building. "This place is right next to where we can meet up with the Raven. It'll be safer going through here that on the ground." The Gear said kicking the large double doors open. They went inside and started to head up the damaged stairs. "Have you thought of any names?" he asked Jessie out of the blue. "I haven't thought of any yet." she replied. "The father?" The Gear asked wondering. "Died in a Locust raid. We've been moving from place to place, just me and Lisa." Jessie said a little depressed. "I'm sorry." he said silently.

"What about you? Any family?" The Gear paused and the sisters could see the sorrow in his gaze, "There was a girl I loved. She died when the Locust attacked where we were living. I was going to marry her." he turned to them, "I joined the Gears to make those bastards pay. I won't let anymore people die if I can help it." Lisa walked up and hugged the Gear around his armored middle, "Shes in a better place now." the little girl said with a light sob.

The Gear awkwardly returned the embrase before they started to head to the top floors of the building. Everything seemed quiet, save for the creaking of the floor under their feet, "Becareful, the floor might be unstable." The Gear said keeping his lancer aimed forward. Jessie suddently grabbed her stomach and groaned. The Gear stopped and walked over to her, "You okay?" he asked a little concerned. "I'm...I'm fine. He kicks harder than a thrashball player sometimes." Jessie said rubbing her bulge. The Gear looked down at her stomach, hesitantly, he reached his hand out and put it over her stomach. Through his heavy glove, he felt a tiny kick from the little one inside.

A small smile stretched across his face, "Your lucky." he said taking his hand away. "I'll do everything I can to make sure you three get to safety." Jessie smiled at him.

The sound of growling and chirping got their attention. The Gear got infront of the girls and aimed his rifle above them, "Stay behind me." he said focusing around them. a few feet away, a ceiling tile fell down and with it a Wretch fell onto the floor. The Gear gunned down the small creature before it took two steps. Another tile fell down and he repeated the same action with the next Wretch.

More Wretches fell from the ceiling forcing the Gear to fire full auto. He went to reload when one lept at him and latched onto his shoulder making him drop the lancer. He stuggled with the smaller creature before managing to yank it off of him and throwing it hard against the wall. He heard a scream and saw one last Wretch leaping at the girls. He ran forward and grabbed the creature and snapping its neck.

He looked at their fearful stares and smiled, "Lets not go through that again." The girls giggled lightly. The Gear gathered up his rifle and they started to move a little quicker toward the EZ.

Back out onto the street, the light had fadded a lot more as night drew closer. _"Omega 5 this is KR Echo Eight - Three, whats your status, over?"_ The Gear put a finger in his ear, "I'm about a thousand meters from where you are. Also, I have two girls with me, ones pregnant." _"Roger that. We'll be waiting for your arrival. Just be aware that there is some Locust activity in the area."_ "Copy that Eight - Three, we'll be there soon." The Gear looked to his escort, "We gotta go. Stay low and stick close." Lisa and Jessie nodded as they started moving again.

They got about halfway to the Raven when gunfire echoed through the street. The Gear pulled them down just as the bullets peppered the ground around them. A drone stood up ontop of a nearby rooftop firing down at them. The Gear covered the girls as the assault continued. When the Locust stopped to reload, the Gear lept up and fired his lancer. Some of the rounds missed their target, but in the end the drone fell forward and hit the ground four stories below with a loud '_SPLAT'_

When the sisters got back up, the Gear fell to one knee clutching his right side. Jessie rushed to him and saw blood seeping through his fingers, a bullet had managed to hit the weaker part of his armor and went through. "Dammit." he grunted. "Can you walk?" asked Jessie worried. The Gear stood up on shakey legs, "Yeah...just barely. Com'mon, we got to keep moving."

They had made it to the base of the two story building where the Raven was waiting for them on the roof. By that point the Gear had turned a ghostly white color and had to be supported by the mother-to-be and her little sister. "S-Stop...put me down." he said, his voice very weak. The sisters set him down against the side of the doorway while Jessie looked at his wound.

It was bad, the bullet was still inside and he was bleeding internally. "I'm fucked...aren't I?" he asked with an earily calm voice. Jessie swallowed the lump in her throat, behind her Lisa started to cry. "I'm...sorry. The wounds too severe." The Gear chuckled humorlessly, "Ain't that a bitch."

Down the street, they heard the sounds of several Locust call out in their strange language. They were coming. The Gear stood up using the wall as support, "Get to the Raven." he said getting his lancer ready. "What about you?" asked Lisa.

The Gear reached around his neck and pulled off his COG tags and put them around the little girl's neck. Jessie's eyes widened, "No...you can't." He gave her a look, "I'm already dead. And those bastards will swarm the chopper in minutes. The least I can do is buy you time so you can get away safely." "We can't just leave you!" shouted Lisa. "Listen." he said strongly getting their attention. "The very best I can do is get you two to safety. The Raven will take you to Jacinto, its really the only place thats safe right now."

He looked at Jessie, "Your child...hes the future of Sera. If saving you three is worth my life...I'm willing to pay that price." They heard the Locust again, this time closer. "Now go!" he said aiming at where the creatures would be coming. The girls looked hesitant. "GO! NOW!" he shouted as the first of the Locust came out of a nearby apartment building. Jessie and Lisa ran into the building and up the stairs as they heard the Gear's lancer firing.

The Gear emptied clip after clip, dumbing the spent magazines like clockwork. The Locust kept coming, firing as they ran at the building. Not wanting them to get inside, he took his last frag grenade and slammed it into the doorframe before limping away. If they managed to get past him, they'd have a nasty surprise before the doorway collapsed.

He took cover behind a low wall and kept firing until his lancer ran empty. He switched to his pistol and fired again. When he stopped to reload a drone lept over his cover and tackled him. He struggled on the ground with the drone on the ground before he pulled out his combat knife and drove it into its throat. He looked back at the doorway to see a drone try to run through, but the well placed grenade went off blowing it into bloody chunks and collapsing the doorway.

He heard the sound of a chopper's engine running and saw the King Raven lift off into the sky and toward Jacinto. "Their safe." he mumbled to himself. He tried to get up but a heavy boot slammed onto his chest pinning him down. A Theron Guard looked down at him and hissed, **"Your dead human."**

The Gear spat on the Locust's visored helmet, "One day, my race will kill every last fucking one of you. And we'll dance on your graves." The Theron sneered and raised it's foot. The Gear closed his eyes and thought of his fiance as the large boot came down on his head.

On the King Raven, Jessie sat in the troop compartment rubbing her belly. Lisa sat next to her with her head on her shoulder. She held the Gear's COG tags in her smaller hands running her fingers over the metal. "We'll be at Jacinto in about an hour." said the Gear across from them. Jessie nodded, her mind thinking back to the Gear who sacrificed himself for them.

"Have you thougth of any names?" asked the Gear motioning toward her belly. Lisa perked up and handed Jessie the COG tags. On them were inscribed the Gear's identity:

_**James Santino Pvt. 1st Class**_

_**Serial Number: X1576-1290**_

"James." she said rubbing her stomach again with a smile, "A perfect name." Lisa smiled and nodded in agreement. When the war ends, and her son asked about his name. She would tell him that he was named after a hero. A man who selflessly sacrificed himself so that his mommy and auntie could live. He was their savior...their angel in COG armor.

END

**A/N: A sad fic, but one for those who give their lives for the innocent.**


End file.
